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Skill based magic system
- Thread starter Oni
- Start date
One of the good things about this system is that it allows you to use classes or not without having to deal with spells much at all.
Oni
First Post
Re: Re: Skill based magic system
For a couple of reasons.
*because of the way I chose to do specialization
*because crossclass puts a limiting number on max ranks how many ranks determines numbers of spells and their levels.
The system I've cooked up here wouldn't really work balance wise if you did that, I wasn't wild about having to do it that way, but it was the best solution I could come up with. Of course if you have way to make it work another way I would really like to hear about it, seeing different approaches is always helpful.
tensen said:
For a couple of reasons.
*because of the way I chose to do specialization
*because crossclass puts a limiting number on max ranks how many ranks determines numbers of spells and their levels.
The system I've cooked up here wouldn't really work balance wise if you did that, I wasn't wild about having to do it that way, but it was the best solution I could come up with. Of course if you have way to make it work another way I would really like to hear about it, seeing different approaches is always helpful.
SableWyvern
Hero
Limper's Rolemaster comment got me bothered to put this idea together for you.
It would take a lot of work to do the entire set of PHB spells, but a RM-like skill-based magic system would work something like the following.
You'd need to compile spells according to a common theme - probably ignoring school boundaries in most instances. In my example, I use Fire. By buying skill ranks in a theme, you gain access to all the spells up to that rank. Hence, my Fire list looks something like:
FIRE
2 - Burning Hands
4 - Continual Flame
6 - Flaming Sphere
7 - Pyrotechnics
8 - Flame Arrow
9 - Fireball
10 - Firetrap
11 - Wall of Fire
12 - Fire Shield
16 - Delayed Blast Fireball
18 - Sunburst
19 - Incendiary Cloud
20 - Meteor Swarm
So, a twelfth level caster who had maxed out Fire would have 16 ranks and be capable of casting all Fire spells up to [edit: Delayed Blast] Fireball.
Anyway, hopefully this at least provides you with something to think about.
It would take a lot of work to do the entire set of PHB spells, but a RM-like skill-based magic system would work something like the following.
You'd need to compile spells according to a common theme - probably ignoring school boundaries in most instances. In my example, I use Fire. By buying skill ranks in a theme, you gain access to all the spells up to that rank. Hence, my Fire list looks something like:
FIRE
2 - Burning Hands
4 - Continual Flame
6 - Flaming Sphere
7 - Pyrotechnics
8 - Flame Arrow
9 - Fireball
10 - Firetrap
11 - Wall of Fire
12 - Fire Shield
16 - Delayed Blast Fireball
18 - Sunburst
19 - Incendiary Cloud
20 - Meteor Swarm
So, a twelfth level caster who had maxed out Fire would have 16 ranks and be capable of casting all Fire spells up to [edit: Delayed Blast] Fireball.
Anyway, hopefully this at least provides you with something to think about.
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This looks like the start of a workable system. I am bothered, though, by a couple of things, including the muddy method for capping the number of spells someone can cast without resting, and the amount of time they have to rest before getting more casting capability.
Furthermore, with a start of 13 "scholar points," couldn't a first-level caster dump everything into one skill and learn a sixth-level spell? Even if that's all the magic they could do, that would pretty well un-balance an otherwise first level adventure. However wierd the spell level system is, where a caster can essentially cast a spell at half his caster level, rounded up, it's tied into the rest of the Challenge Rating system pretty closely, so screwing with what spells a character at a certain level has access to can be dangerous to play.
I think this system needs some tweaking, but I'd like to see it finished. A different magic system would be welcome.
Furthermore, with a start of 13 "scholar points," couldn't a first-level caster dump everything into one skill and learn a sixth-level spell? Even if that's all the magic they could do, that would pretty well un-balance an otherwise first level adventure. However wierd the spell level system is, where a caster can essentially cast a spell at half his caster level, rounded up, it's tied into the rest of the Challenge Rating system pretty closely, so screwing with what spells a character at a certain level has access to can be dangerous to play.
I think this system needs some tweaking, but I'd like to see it finished. A different magic system would be welcome.
Oni
First Post
JDRay said:
That shouldn't be a problem, school skills and the casting skill should have max ranks just like regular skills. They can never have a spell of a higher level than their rank in their casting skill which counts as a cross class skill for spending points on and the max ranks.
On another note, the spell try skill idea that someone laid out above seems like an interesting idea, a lot of work, but something that is pretty cool none the less.
SableWyvern
Hero
Well, since the RM style system seemed to go over pretty well, I might come up with some more lists.
Just a few points:
On the fire list, a spell occasionally becomes available a level early or late. This would be common on all lists, but shouldn't cause major problems.
In this system, save DCs would not be tied directly to skill ranks as with Oni's original idea.
Also note, spell ranks are spent as standard, non-cross class ranks.
I'm going to think about casting limits and number of available ranks to allocate per level. One option that comes to mind is that a PC would have spell points equal to the total number of ranks spent on spells.
eg, a wizard with Fire 8, Shield 8 and Illusion 6 would have 22 spell points.
Casting a spell would then cost spell points equal to its ranks. I haven't actually thought closely about that though - its just an idea off the top of my head. (eg Continual Flame costs 4 SP)
Just a few points:
On the fire list, a spell occasionally becomes available a level early or late. This would be common on all lists, but shouldn't cause major problems.
In this system, save DCs would not be tied directly to skill ranks as with Oni's original idea.
Also note, spell ranks are spent as standard, non-cross class ranks.
I'm going to think about casting limits and number of available ranks to allocate per level. One option that comes to mind is that a PC would have spell points equal to the total number of ranks spent on spells.
eg, a wizard with Fire 8, Shield 8 and Illusion 6 would have 22 spell points.
Casting a spell would then cost spell points equal to its ranks. I haven't actually thought closely about that though - its just an idea off the top of my head. (eg Continual Flame costs 4 SP)
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Mahiro Satsu
First Post
Spell Ranks
Maybe you could work it like this:
Wizards start will a rank of "zero" in all schools, and have Eight + int bonus points to distribute between the schools at level 1. The point cap is spellcasting level +2. At each level the caster gets eight more points to distribute.
Sorcerers get, say, 12 + cha bonus points to distribute but must purchase the zero level. They then get six points to distribute per casting class level.
With each rank the spell caster can add spells equal to their Int or cha bonus from that school to their spell book. Spells per day are determined by casting class level.
Havent thought about bards, etc yet.
Maybe you could work it like this:
Wizards start will a rank of "zero" in all schools, and have Eight + int bonus points to distribute between the schools at level 1. The point cap is spellcasting level +2. At each level the caster gets eight more points to distribute.
Sorcerers get, say, 12 + cha bonus points to distribute but must purchase the zero level. They then get six points to distribute per casting class level.
With each rank the spell caster can add spells equal to their Int or cha bonus from that school to their spell book. Spells per day are determined by casting class level.
Havent thought about bards, etc yet.
Melkor Lord Of ALL!
First Post
SableWyvern, I really like your idea, please expand on this!
